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Prior to kickoff of Friday night’s Amarillo High-Tascosa football game at Dick Bivins Stadium, Larry Borger and some other Amarillo High parents were attempting to tie black and gold flags above the stands on the visitors side of the stadium.

To Borger, the experience of getting ready to watch his son Blake play while sitting on the visitors side at Dick Bivins was unusual.

“It just feels backwards, but it will be fun,” Borger said.

Nobody could blame the elder Borger for being a bit confused this week.

Blake, a starting guard in Amarillo High’s offensive line, is the youngest child of Borger’s to attend AHS. The irony of this, especially during Spirit Week, is that Larry Borger is a 1979 graduate of Tascosa.

Borger said not a lot has changed between the two schools since he was at Tascosa, where he played basketball against the Sandies twice a year.

“It’s a lot the same,” Borger said. “When I was at Tascosa I had a lot of friends at Amarillo High, and it’s a lot that way today with the kids. We always remember it because it’s a lot of fun.”

Borger has as much familiarity with the rivalry from both sides as anybody in town can. Friday’s game was uncharted territory for him since it’s the first AHS-Tascosa football game that didn’t count in district standings.

That change came in February when UIL realignment dropped Amarillo High from Class 5A to Class 4A, while Tascosa stayed at 5A. Borger doesn’t think that detracts from the intensity of the rivalry.

“As far as district it doesn’t matter, but it means something to these boys,” Borger said. “For my son to say he beat Tascosa his senior year is big.”

For the father, there’s little wrestling with school rivalries, although that isn’t necessarily the case when he goes to an Amarillo High-Tascosa basketball game.

“I’ll sit on the Amarillo High side but then find myself half rooting for Tascosa,” Borger said. “You treat it different when you have your own kid playing.”